Reykjavík Grapevine - apr 2022, Qupperneq 29

Food 29The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 04— 2022
Le Kock’s burgers aren’t your stan-
dard sloppy fare, nor are they
gourmet to the point where they’re
try-hard. No ma'am, these are
obscenely tasty burgers that elicit
sighs of pleasure and guilt in equal
measure.
VG: It’s clear that Le Kock focuses
on the details when you taste their
cheeseburger. This is a straight-up
triumph of simplicity. There are no
compromises to be found here, and
they tend to the cheeseburger with
love and precision.
The Vegan Fox 2.0 is a smartly
crafted vegan burger compiled with
smoked barley, bean and mush-
rooms. There is barbeque sauce,
vegan mayo and grilled oyster mush-
room sprinkled with harissa. The
burger offers a strong kick and the
balance between the smokey taste
and the freshness from the ginger is
just amazing. The whole thing feels
like the passionate conclusion of a
scientist mastering the ideal recipe
for a flawless burger. Which is the
case, of course. Overall, a perfect
vegan burger.
Smasss

Smash burgers might seem very
2007, with their vogue confirmed by
the soaring popularity of Shake
Shack. However, as with most
trends, Iceland tends to arrive late
in the game. While Hagavagninn
might have been first to introduce
the smash style, the boys at Smasss
ran with the name and appropriately
lusty Instagram posts to accompany
their arrival.
VG: I am a huge fan of this small
enterprise. These are young entre-
preneurs trying to make a space for
themselves in the burger market and
have done so in a surprisingly short
amount of time. The first burger
I tried was the cheeseburger, the
foundation of it all. But the burg-
er’s appearance was so shockingly
different from the poster at the
counter it already put me off. The
bun felt greasy at the first bite, and
there was an overwhelming taste
of black pepper. They sure went to
town with it, and the taste lingered
on the whole day. The burger was far
from good. It also felt quite boyish,
which might reflect the aesthetic
of Smasss; perhaps not entirely
a bad element and shows spirit.
The lack of elegance is a problem
here though. It needs some serious
rethinking.
The vegan burger, although much
better than the cheeseburger, had
similar problems. This is the youth-
ful bachelor version of a vegan
burger. The presentation was, to say
the least, sloppy. Although it had
tasty, crunchy pickled cucumbers,
onion and tomatoes, the signature
Smasss sauce was a bit much, and
it was impossible to eat without
everything escaping out of the bun.
Overall, while the burger was tasty,
it needs a lot of finessing.
This place has potential but it's obvi-
ous that it lacks discipline. Thank-
fully, this doesn’t need to be a huge
issue and is easy to change.
SB: The food and decor have the
curious feel of belonging in a bach-
elor pad, albeit tidier. The burgers
promise decadent, smutty goodness
but sadly arrive looking limp and
beat. I wanted to love this so bad, but
every bite feels like being smacked in
the face by pepper, drowning out all
other flavours. The meat is crushed
to the point it resembles lace, and
the cooking style obviously lacks all
discipline.
However, I really enjoyed their
vegan burger! It is a lovely alterna-
tive to a fried chicken sandwich,
with battered and fried oyster
mushrooms piled high. Sure, it’s
a cumbersome eating affair — no
really, it towers so alarmingly I
could barely take a bite. But once
I managed to rearrange the nest
of fried mushrooms, it made for
a pleasant meal. If you make your
peace with the fact that it isn’t really
a burger, it’s quite enjoyable.
Yuzu

Yuzu is another gourmet burger
chain that arrived on the scene in
2019 that leans on the tired but
tested trope of ‘Asian’ influences in
an effort to add a twist or discern
themselves from otherwise stan-
dard fare. The elegant interiors
thankfully don’t fall prey to overt
tokenization and exudes a stripped
down Scandi vibe.
When they first opened, Yuzu
offered steamed bun burgers
in Chinese steam baskets. They
quickly abandoned these in favour
of custom made buns from a local
bakery. That hasn’t appeared to
diminish their popularity however,
[was I the only steamed bun fan?
—SB] and the chain has grown to
multiple locations.
SB: For all its Asian influence claims,
Yuzu isn’t a bastardised burger at all.
In fact, I’d say it’s pretty straightfor-
ward; well made, with Asian flour-
ishes. It is worth pointing out that
all the sauces at Yuzu are vegan and
are appropriately laced with either
kimchi, yuzu or chilli. I was particu-
larly thrilled with their vegan and
vegetarian burgers. The former is
a portobello mushroom, whole, in
lieu of a patty, while the vegetarian
Beyond Meat burger basks in the
warm glow of sesame oil muskiness
and citrusy coriander. Perfect for
newly minted vegetarian and meat
lovers alike, it’s a nice departure
from the standard burger, but still
faithful to its roots.
We were surprised to find that we
preferred their Beyond Meat cheese-
burger to their meat based version.
When the cheeseburger failed to
impress us (we suspect an under-
seasoned patty was the culprit), we
tried the Yuzu Chilli. The bun was a
little dry and cracked easily and we
quickly had a sordid mess on our
hands as it disintegrated, leaving
us drenched in sauce. A surpris-
ing turnaround from when we last
tested them, when they snagged the
2021 Best Burger title.
VG: The Yuzu portobello burger is a
fantastic substitute for meat, with
the complex taste hitting in waves.
The bread for this one was perfect
and the unexpected diversity of the
burger was refreshing. The Beyond
Meat version, on the other hand,
offers a more traditional approach
to the burger, but both provide a
fun and playful take on the vegan/
vegetarian option.
The cheeseburger was a bit of a
letdown. Although there were no
obvious, significant flaws, it felt too
bland for the standard of the place,
as well as the price. Smartly enough,
Yuzu also offers Yuzu chilli, which
is very similar to the vegan option
and is only around 200 ISK more
expensive.
Overall, Yuzu is as serious about
their burgers as they are in their
interior design. The foundation
is strong and can only grow from
here.
H
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